An Amazing Story

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Here is the roster for the 700cc hydro class. Jerry Kirts was prequalified as the defending national champion. I don't know who the other prequalifier was. Tim Butts was the Eastern Division champ, but he was not racing. I can't remember who won the Western Division. I flipped at that race while chasing Steve Jones, but Steve apparently didn't win either as he had to qualify. It might have been Don Nichols.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I can't find my notes on qualifying heats or who made the finals, but I do have a few notes in another book. I won my qualifying heat by 12 seconds. I don't know why such a big lead, and I don't know what the average speed was. One of the rare pics Debbie took on the front straight. She always took pictures of me when I was just a dot on the back straight.

[Jeff Lytle]

I flipped at that race while chasing Steve Jones.

I remember my buddy Roy had some pics of your crew carrying a Master Oil boat out of the water in pieces. Was this the race where you destroyed a boat?

[Master Oil Racing Team]

No Jeff--I had described that flip way back toward the beginning of the Amazing Story when I went across the deck of Tom Berry's hydro and pushed my turn fin up. That was the Western Divisionals in 1977. It was the easiest flip I ever had.

The only boat I ever destroyed was in 1967 when I stuffed and went through the breaking up pieces of the bow. My Dad gave that boat to Craig Lawrence and Alan Registar and they rebuilt it. That's when Craig, Alan and Denny Henderson got their start building boats. It wasn't a Master Oil boat though.

Neil Bauknight crunched through the right side of the cockpit on a Master Oil boat at Alexandria I believe in 1979. He bought it from us after the 1978 season but still had the paint job. That boat wasn't destroyed though. It just needed some repairs. I can't think of any that were brought to the shore in pieces. It may have been the one we sold that Eric Pugh said they hauled back East some place. It would be interesting to see the pics and try to figure out what boat it was. Maybe Roy might remember the race course.

[Jeff Lytle]

It must have been after you sold the boat. I remember the pic showed the right side of the boat was all pushed out like it happened in a corner, with a bunch of people lifting it out. I don't remember seeing any of your crew in the pic either.

Roy Alexander was a Canadian driver / owner of a 700ccH called Devastation. HE was always a top contender in all our races up here, and did well in the U.S. as well. Sadly, he passed away a number of years ago.

I remember the pic cause' I was putting a collage of photos together for the boat show one year, and he let me look thru his collection of pics to use. That collage of everyone's primo pics is probably in the back of someone's closet somewhere, cause' it was never seen again after the show. Perhaps some of the newest Canadian members here will remember where it went.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

....and I should have left for the shop two hours ago, but I have been looking for it. This is all I have found so far.

A 10-6 Marchetti, and the only boat I destroyed. Stuffed in Clarendon, Texas in 1967.

The other two are from Alexandria, but I can't remember what year. It was 1981 or 83 I think. I did not write the year on the negative sheet and never made a contact sheet. Clue--anyone recognizing the T shirt will I.D. the year. It was Neil Bauknights boat then. He kept my paint scheme and numbers as I was no longer driving 350 hydro. I do have another pic of Neil's boat (same one) with the right side pooched out. I think it was from 1979.

I didn't find Roy's name on the 1979 roster and I don't have the other years, so I think the boat with pieces must have been this second crash. I keep finding stuff I had forgotten about.

[gearbox49m1]

Boy, does that picture bring back memories. Alan and I rebuilt that 10' 8" Marchetti and ran it for two more years. The boat is tied to the top of our trailer which we pulled with Alans' Corvette. I also remember you, Alan, myself, and I think Mark, hanging out at the local drive in the night before the race. We were seeing what the local "chicks" were like in Clarendon and if I remember right, there weren't any!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

That's right Craig. For a Saturday night that drive in was dead. The only chicks I can remember are two nice looking ones that looked in the window of the ambulance just before they hauled me off.

[denny henderson]

Wayne,

Your dad really started something when he gave them that boat. His generosity had far reaching affects.
Regarding the picture of the "B" boat, Que Pasa, at Alex. As you said, at the time of that wreck the boat was owned by Neil B. I was trying to remember which race and year it was and for some reason I can only remember the 79' race. I have no memories of 78' at Alex. So I called Richard, and he called Neil. Here is what Neil said. The wreck happened in 78', in the first turn of a qualifying heat. Neil and Danny K. got together. He also said Danny was running a Konig. If that is correct, then it had to be 78' because Danny ran a Yamato in 79'. We must have had a race at Alex. in Oct. that year after the Natls. at San Antonio.
We keep interupting An Amazing Story.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

The interruptions help jog the memory , besides these are interesting side trips. I was looking in the wrong binder for the pics because I didn't realize how stupid we were. I ran that rig only once when it was right. It was at the Nationals in San Antonio.

Tim had built that boat then later added some extra pads on the sponsons. Dieter put the motor together for me to run at the OB World Championships at Dayton. With the power of the motor and the addition to the sponsons it became the wildest B hydro ride I ever had. It was always on the verge of being out of control. Even on the straightaways it was hard to handle. You could get the sponsons up, but the tail would hop around and when you went to set up for the turn the sponsons would dance wildly. And with the power on through the turns the boat hopped and skittered.

I qualified 6th, and was thus the standby for the American team. My time on each of the 3 laps was within a couple hundreths of a second each lap. I pushed it to the edge and it wasn't good enough. So we loaned the boat to Guisseppe Landini and he put a 3 blade Rollo cleaver on it. I never saw such a dramatic improvement in a boat's handling before or since. Because of some politics he had one heat that he won tossed out, but he finished 2nd or third overall. The boat became not only stable, but the true potential with it and the motor and prop could be achieved. You could harness the power of that motor and drive it hard all the way around the course. Guisseppe gave us that prop.

I only drove it ONE TIME when it was set up right. I should have won the nationals at San Antonio. First heat was an easy win. In the second heat I was on the inside. Tim jumped the gun and inadvertently cut me off twice in the first turn. By the time I got the motor cleared out I was behind. I quickly caught up to Dan Kirts who was running second, but I couldn't get around. He stuffed his 700 hydro just before this second heat and he was totally out of it. He never remembered running the race and some people on the bank tried to stop him because they knew he didn't know where he was.

He drove by instinct in that 350 race, and a wilder driver you never saw. He was all over the race course and I couldn't get around. I had the power, but I never knew which way he was going to go. I finished with a 3rd and a second overall, then we sold the rig complete with prop to Neil Bauknight. That was my last ride in a B hydro. Looking back I wish we would have raced it at least a couple of seasons.

I have a pic of Que Pasa somewhere with that right side pooched out, but I can't find it. I thought I posted it once before somewhere on BRF. Anyway, here's Neil getting ready to go out for that qualifying heat.